Quincy

Quincy (クインシー, Kuinshī?) are a clan of humans who, over many centuries,
became spiritually aware. In doing so they devised their own brand of
spiritual powers; they can absorb spiritual energy and then manipulate
for offensive purposes. They most commonly reshape spiritual particles
into various types of bow and arrows, but can also concentrate
spiritual energy into the form of swords or explosives. At their
height, Quincies used their powers to combat the hollows, protecting
the inhabitants of the human world with a success rate greater than
that of the Soul Reapers. Unlike the Soul Reapers, who purify the souls
of hollows, Quincy destroyed the hollow, soul and all. This created an
imbalance between the worlds of the living and the dead, threatening to
destroy the universe. To prevent this, the Soul Reapers almost
exterminated the Quincy, leaving only two Quincy to survive into the
current Bleach storyline and creating a great animosity between the two
groups.

Uryū Ishida

Uryū Ishida (石田 雨竜,
Ishida Uryū?) is the most recurring Quincy character in Bleach. Despite
the Quincy's strained history with Soul Reapers, Uryū has a working
relationship with deputy Soul Reaper and series protagonist Ichigo
Kurosaki. He and his father are the last remaining Quincy.

Ryūken Ishida

* Voiced by: Ken Narita (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)

Ryūken
Ishida (石田 竜弦, Ishida Ryūken?) is the father of Uryū Ishida. He is
initially portrayed as a bitter and cold Quincy who detests his own
people, believing his father, Sōken, and Uryū to be wasting their time
training their Quincy abilities. Ryuken dedicates most of his time to
the Karakura Hospital. Ryūken is a very skilled Quincy, capable of
defeating two incomplete arrancar with only three arrows fired from his
one-handed bow. His outfit is usually covered in blue crosses and
Ryuken has inherited his father's Quincy Cross (滅却十字, mekkyaku jūji?).
To this end, he calls himself "the last Quincy", believing Uryū to be
too talentless to deserve the title. Though he disapproves the Quincy
lifestyle, since it's impossible to make a living if one kills hollows
all day, Ryūken restores Uryū's lost Quincy powers, under the condition
that his son is to never associate with Soul Reapers, although this
command is immediately disobeyed on the rationale that Ichigo is only a
substitute Soul Reaper and that he is acting independently of Soul
Society's orders.

Sōken Ishida

* Voiced by: Eiji Maruyama (Japanese), David Lodge (English)

Sōken
Ishida (石田 宗弦, Ishida Sōken?) is the father of Ryūken and the
grandfather of Uryū. He trained Uryū in Quincy abilities throughout his
childhood, becoming his mentor in the process. Sōken tried to make
amends with Soul Reapers by advocating a new system of response to
hollow attacks: Quincy would be the first-response squad, protecting
humans from hollows until Soul Reapers arrived to help. His proposal
was never accepted, and he was eventually killed in a hollow attack.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi reveals to Uryū that this was his doing; he delayed
the Soul Reapers meant to protect Sōken so that he could study Sōken's
soul for his research. According to a reflection of a photograph seen
in Uryu's glasses, all that was left of him in the end was his head.